A Fateful Encounter
by Haayls
Summary: After many attempts at attaining entry into the City of Flowers, Cairn and Gawain encounter Lord Zane at the Forest Metropolis accidentally. Lord Nogueira believes that their meeting has great things in store.


A Fateful Encounter

The two male knights crossed the bridge back into the Cuatour Region. They had once again failed to persuade the two light elf sentries to grant them entry into the City of Flowers. The message they held was important nonetheless but the two men weren't as disappointed as they should have been. Perhaps it was because they were sure they would be turned down, anyway, and had therefore, not put their hopes up too high. Whatever the reason may be, they were not so quick to retreat back to Radiata Castle. Instead of making a left to go through Fort Helenica to get back to Radiata, the knights kept going down the path that they were on. The amount of birch trees in the area gradually decreased as the number of pine trees increased. They were approaching the Nowem Region, the home of the dark elves.

Walking down the dirt path blanketed in fallen leaves, the taller knight cranked his head up to look at the trees without a care in the world while the stout knight kept his eyes forward with a serious expression. The smell of fresh fallen leaves was all around and the crisp, cool air in the Nowem Region was perpetual.

"Hey, Gawain." the taller knight asked.

"Yeah, Cairn. What?" answered the serious, stout knight.

"Do you ever wonder if the dark elves ever get tired of the smell of the leaves? Or the nice chilly air?" Cairn pondered.

"They might." Gawain responded.

"I mean, they _do_ live here and I've noticed that the longer you live in a place, the more desensitised you become to your surroundings. Some people tell me that they think Solieu Village is nice because it's so quiet, but eventually that silence just becomes part of the background. …Does that make sense?"

"Uhh…probably." Gawain began. He had completely tuned out his partner at this point. Cairn had an active imagination that accompanied his hyperactivity. Gawain thought a lot, too, but he mostly kept things to himself.

The knights arrive at a large tree trunk-like building in the midst of the woods. It was the haven for the dark elves, The Forest Metropolis. The dark elf sentry there knew them quite well and nodded at them as they let themselves in.

As they walked down the main entrance hall, they readied themselves to see the dark elf elder, Lord Nogueira, who was also the older brother of the leader of the light elves, Lord Zane—whom they had intentionally sought to speak with but were refused.

Cairn and Gawain reached the lobby of the Forest Metropolis. They didn't have to walk up the flight of stairs ahead of them to reach Lord Nogueira's chamber because they saw the elder sitting at the long table in the lobby. His back was turned to them as he sipped a hollowed out gourd filled to the brim with elven wine. Before Gawain had the chance to change the direction he was walking, Cairn raced up to the heavily clothed light elf sitting at the table and covered his eyes with both hands. Lord Nogueira flinched in surprise, spilling a bit of the wine he was drinking on his robe.

"Guess who!"

"Get your hands off of me!" he snapped as he slammed his gourd of wine down on the table.

Cairn withdrew his hands in shock, "What's your problem all of a sudden?" As the man turned around, Cairn soon realised that the man he had just startled, in fact, was not the dark elf elder but someone with a face that was much paler than Nogueira's and had a longer, narrower beard. The man stood up lividly and glanced down at the wine stain that now spotted his clothes, then looked back up at Cairn, shooting him a look that could make milk go sour and spat, "You're my problem! Just who do you think you are sneaking up on people like that?!" With that, he stormed off before Cairn had a chance to respond to the furious elf.

Cairn stood still and silent for a moment as he tried to comprehend what just happened. Pretty soon, Lord Nogueira came down the staircase that Cairn and Gawain were just about to go up. Cairn did a double-take at Lord Nogueira, staring at him, and then staring back at where the other elf whom he had thought was Lord Nogueira had stormed off to.

"…Who was that!?" Cairn finally asked.

"Who was what, Cairn?" Lord Nogueira tilted his head.

"There was a man sitting right here who looked just like you and he stomped off when I tried to greet him!"

A smile curled upon Lord Nogueira's lip, "I see you met my brother, Zane. He's here for a visit but he doesn't come here often, so you needn't worry."

"It seems Cairn gave him a fright when he snuck up behind him." Gawain said.

"He's not a big fan of practical jokes, which is why he doesn't particularly care for young Chatt's shenanigans. Poor child received a horrid screaming from him when he made the mistake of tugging on his beard."

"So, he's the light elf leader we've been trying to see all this time?" Cairn continued to stare in the direction Zane disappeared to.

"Yes, but I'm afraid you frightening him like you did got you off on the wrong foot with him, which, I won't lie, isn't hard to do but I'll see if I can talk to him and have him try to come to an understanding so then maybe you won't need me to be your middle-man all the time." Lord Nogueira smile, "Who knows? You three might actually grow to become good friends."


End file.
